by Mike Hilty, Contributing Writer
Recently, the Critics Choice Awards took a little bit of heat for a joke during the Best Original Song presentation. Bella Ramsey made a comment about actors who think they can sing. It felt harmless, but it ignited a conversation about performers and singing that probably didn’t need to happen. Lost in the conversation, though, are several extremely talented singers, who are also strong performers that can anchor a show. One example of this is Sara Bareilles. From her humble beginning with the release of “Love Song” to her time as a judge on The Sing-Off, she was destined to make it in the performance space. She just needed the right opportunity.
Girls5eva follows the exploits of an all-girl group that had one major hit when they were young. Once another singer samples parts of their hit song, the group decides to stage a comeback. Season Three picks up as they’re figuring out how to take their new sound on the road and balance their current jobs, family, and life with their newfound resurgence.
One of the perks of having so many streaming services is that there are more opportunities to save a show that was canceled or on the bubble of being canceled. So I need to give a shoutout to Netflix for saving Girls5eva from the Peacock chopping block. It never got a full chance on Peacock, mainly because it was part of the initial rollout of original content. After two underrated seasons on Peacock, Netflix continues the story with some mixed results. I’m a little shocked that Netflix only ordered six episodes of Season Three. Whether it’s the availability of the cast, or that this is the best story they could come up with, it gives mixed signals about what this means for the future of the series. Was this meant to be a test to see how it would perform on Netflix, or was it supposed to be a way to wrap it up? I’m not entirely sure.
Season Three is a fun road trip season with a lot of great moments in a different locations. Dave and Atlanta do something similar in their third seasons, so maybe this is a trend with shows about musicians? Regardless, the road trip makes a way to bring in people from different cultures and let the shenanigans ensue with Girls5eva (which is also the name of the band). Perhaps how this works the best is with Gloria (Paula Pell), who gets to experience life on tour as her authentic self. She takes full advantage of this, and her interactions with some of the fans on the road are comedic gold. Gloria has always had a soft spot in my heart — she gets some of the best storylines of the season, and she’s in a very different place than the majority of the characters. This season, Gloria is unleashed, and props to the writers for giving her a chance to shine in ways she didn’t in the previous seasons.
But the treatment of two of the other members of the group isn’t as good as I would expect. Wickie (Renée Elise Goldsberry) has always been the biggest diva of the group, and Summer (Busy Philipps) has always been the ditz. Nothing much has changed for their characters, and unfortunately, it finally started to grate on me a little bit. Since the move to Netflix, I hoped that they would have had a little more character development. Yes, I acknowledge that both of them have moments to shine that steered outside of their typical mannerisms, but their characters remain stagnant for most of the series. Goldsberry and Philipps are too talented to be done in dirty like this.
This brings me to Dawn (Bareilles), who is front-and-center in a way that we haven’t gotten in past seasons. Bareilles is the glue of the series, a wonderful anchor to a talented group of characters, and, dare I say, a decent musical act. In a lot of ways, we’re rooting for Girls5eva to make it. They were naïve girls in a ruthless music industry that takes advantage of people. Throughout the series, though, Dawn has had the most growth and the most to lose from this experience. In two seasons, she has learned to adapt to having a family, while also performing and becoming the de facto leader of the group. Because of this, Bareilles has had a chance to grow as a performer, singer, and comedian in a way that no one else on the show has gotten. As much as I root for the group as a whole to succeed, I find myself rooting for more Bareilles individually, not only as a performer, but as a character as well.
Girls5eva is a Tina Fey show through and through. You can tell by the snappy dialogue, strong female leads, and pop culture references that she has a hand in its creation (she is an executive producer). Season Three doesn’t hold back on the topics of the time which help shape messaging and themes. The music industry as a whole is taken to task for the way it treats women, particularly vulnerable girls. This season, though, focuses the on of live shows, particularly the perils of resale websites like StubHub and Ticketmaster. With fees and upcharges coming under a microscope, it was the perfect opportunity for the series to talk about them in a way that is funny and significant to the plot.
Additionally, Girls5eva has always been great about championing women’s social issues. This season deals with a few, including working mothers, politics in healthcare, and LGBTQIA+ topics. Fey has made it a mission to bring some of these issues to the forefront by talking about how absurd the conversations surrounding them are. It’s quite frankly one of the things I love the most about her as a producer and writer. She knows how to push these topics to the point where she’s mocking their absurdity. Your opinion on the show will depend largely on whether or not you like Fey’s brand of comedy, and for me, she hasn’t missed a beat.
If this is the end for Girls5eva (the ending does feel a little like goodbye), I’m so happy it got to go out on its own terms. The end is a sweet ode to how far the group has come. Fey’s partnership with Netflix was already strong, so I hope that that it can continue. The performances are great, the comedy is still strong, and there’s more story to tell. My hope is that Netflix will give Girls5eva a new lease on life that Peacock never could.
Rating: Low Side of Liked It
Girls5eva is currently streaming on Netflix
You can read more from Mike Hilty, and follow him on Instagram, Letterboxd, and Serializd